Chapter Text
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Zuko wanted to ignore the offer. He wanted to look out the window with his typical pout, making his uncle come to worse-case scenarios so he’d maybe let him do online school instead.
But, times have been changing a bit lately, and Zuko decided to not put up as high of a wall this time.
He slumped back in his seat, readjusting his backpack in his lap to hold against his chest. The weight was comforting, similar to the feeling of his new cat or those “therapeutic weighted blankets” his uncle kept putting on him. “I dunno. Maybe later.” He sighed, exhaustion withering his voice away.
The car ride was silent, because, like Zuko, Iroh was also changing. Now that Zuko started to talk about things with him, he started getting a better understanding of what Zuko needed, and when.
Right now, it seems like that need is silence with comforting, familiar company.
Zuko watched the streets of his new city fly past the car window. Ba Sing Ce was full of more casual life compared to his childhood home, no matter what town in Ba Sing Ce you were in. It was safer, but culture shock doesn’t choose favorites- definitely not for Zuko.
There weren’t soldiers walking the streets, only the Dai Li police here and there. News channels never talked about the war, and magazines only talked about pop-stars or recipes. Even Zuko’s Instagram feed was void of discussing the world war. It was unnerving, but also a bit relieving.
Zuko counted the third Panda-Otter Express and fourth Pig-Chick-Fil-A since their drive home started. There were chain fast food places left and right, lacking the unique, artistic features of restaurants he’d see back at home. There were still some places that looked more authentic, but Zuko had thought that the repetition and excessive placements of these chain stores took away some of the peace of the town. Only three places within a 30-mile radius of his home served a few dishes similar to the Fire Nation’s capital, but even that missed the ball for being anything remotely similar to what he used to know.
They’d just passed Zuko’s psychologist’s office. That was another big change in his life. He was very reluctant to talk to her at first, but having someone to talk to without fear of scaring or worrying anybody started to feel kind of… nice.
Another movie-arcade hybrid building came into view. Zuko didn’t like passing by the “fun” places, mainly because it was a reminder that he didn’t have people to hang out with… yet. Though, that boy from today seemed eager to change that.
“…I think I made a friend.” Zuko mumbled.
“I’m sorry, Nephew. What did you say?” Iroh asked with a gentle voice, turning to him at the stop sign.
“Someone at school wants to be my friend I think.” Zuko spoke with his head facing Iroh this time, but his eyes stayed on the road in front of them.
Even in the corner of his bad eye, Zuko could tell his uncle looked relieved.
“That’s good! What class is this friend in?” Iroh asked as he continued to drive.
Zuko nodded, then turned to look back out the window. “Mm. Most of them. He’s not in calculus or physics, though. But those classes have okay people in it. They’re kinda know-it-alls, but they’re not necessarily rude.”
Iroh grunted at the word ‘rude.’
“It wasn’t bad, though.” Zuko looked at him fully, this time. Probably because he knew Iroh had to keep his eyes on the road. “People mostly mind their own business. Maybe some kids were… it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to make assumptions.”
Iroh kept silence, probably to urge Zuko to continue talking, now that he started.
“His name’s Jet- The guy who’s in a lot of my classes. I can tell he likes to get into trouble but he offered me a seat and didn’t look at me like I was… well, he wasn’t too nervous to look at me.”
Zuko and Iroh talked about that part before. Some people avoided looking at Zuko, probably to avoid making him think they were starring or being rude. Instead, that had almost hurt him as much as people who were starring to be rude.
“That’s good that he makes you feel seen.” Iroh nodded. “…But what kind of trouble?”
Zuko shrugged. “He just doesn’t really pay attention in class, and kinda ignores the teachers. Our English teacher likes him, though. He says he eats in there when they can’t go outside for lunch.“
Zuko wanted to mention that he smoked, too, but he decided to keep that to himself.
Iroh nodded slowly.
“He’s on the baseball team, though, so he must keep his grades up. I was trying not to snoop, but one of his tests he got back I think said 98 or something. So I think he’s one of those kids who just doesn’t have to study.”
Zuko tried not to think of his sister. ’Picture your safe place…’ Zuko imagined his psychologist telling him as he watched the dot on the screen move side-to-side.
“Would you want to join something like that?” Iroh asked, helping him stop the chain of bad thoughts from coming.
“Like what?” Zuko furrowed his brow.
“You know, ‘baseball’ or anything like that. Something to do outside of your studies.”
Zuko scoffed a little, trying to imagine himself in a high school sports team. “Probably not. Not baseball, at least.”
“Theatre? You always liked that when you were a younger child.” Iroh smiled to himself, pictured 6-year-old Zuko dressed as a little dragon spirit for his first play.
Zuko flopped his head over to his left shoulder, groaning a little. “I don’t think I could do that again.” He stopped it there, but he wanted to say ‘they only cast pretty people, I’d probably be forced to only choose between being in props or lights or something.’ He didn’t have any interest in being backstage if he knew it was just for the sake of him not being seen. If he was in theatre, he’d want to act.
“Maybe you’ll find something once you get more settled.” Iroh gently rubbed Zuko’s head, then put the car in ‘park.’
Iroh and Zuko lived in a penthouse in one of the highest buildings in the city. The elevator took forever sometimes, but the view felt freeing. Most importantly, it was harder for people to break in or see through the windows, which was a very comforting thing for Zuko.
They’d fled their home country due to war, but they weren’t just any pair of Fire Nation civilians looking for refuge- they were once a part of their own government. Lord Ozai, Zuko’s father and Iroh’s brother, was leading a nearly 100-year war that has been ending lives ever since it had started by their ancestors. At this point, though many outside villages and towns are still fairly safe from day-to-day, many others have also been completely taken over or eliminated. Now, Ba Sing Ce is the only country that is considered untouchable.
Ever since Zuko’s mother went missing, his father had moved his abuse from verbal and psychological to physical. His father took his anger out on him by his own means, but he’d decided that Zuko, a young boy and prince, would be a great profit from politicians, CEOs, and other Fire Nation public figures as well. Iroh, gone from the mourning of his own son, hadn’t been there for the beginning of this. By the time he’d returned, Zuko thought it was better to keep it to himself, as his father made it very clear that he’d never see the light of day again if he were to tell anyone.
Years later, after Zuko spoke out when attending a meeting, Lord Ozai had kicked him out of their country for good. On top of that, he’d given Zuko third degree burns across the left side of his head, leaving him partially blind and completely deaf in his left ear. In a heartbeat, Iroh traveled along side him.
It had taken them years to get to Ba Sing Ce, but with a lot of traveling as a practically homeless pair, they’d finally gotten in touch with one of Iroh’s old friends who was capable of giving them passports and citizenships as refugees. However, before this -and to Zuko’s disdain,- the news of his exploitation had made its way to the across the world, and was all the public could talk about for weeks, sometimes months on end.
Iroh was left completely horrified, alongside the feeling of drowning in guilt over not being there when it had started nor noticing after all of those years. Zuko was never angry at him, though. If anything, he’d always been a safe haven and break away from those traumatic moments in his life. Sometimes, though being homeless and a refugee was traumatic enough, Zuko wondered if being banished was actually him being set free.
Thankfully, at least for Zuko, this news story was harder to find in Ba Sing Ce. You’d have to really dig for it, and catch it before it got deleted. Iroh and his psychologist kept reassuring him that someone finding out in Ba Sing Ce was highly unlikely, though.
Zuko took his hoodie off when they made it through their front door, and threw it in the laundry room. He didn’t want to sleep before dinner, but he was tired. Instead, he threw himself over on the couch and turned on one of his games he’d been playing.
He liked having a home, even if it wasn’t what he was used to before they’d lost it. They couldn’t decorate it too similarly, just in case they had company and made anyone suspicious of their ethnicity- who knows what would happen then.
In fact, he’d hardly seen red anywhere in Ba Sing Ce, aside from a few signs here and there. Well, Jet’s hoodie was also mostly red.
Jet.
Zuko never talked about his sexuality with his uncle. Even if he liked girls, he still probably wouldn’t talk about it with him. After all, the whole dating thing felt too awkward for him. He did wish his uncle would stop making comments about him going on dates with pretty girls, though.
He’s sure Iroh would be accepting, because he’s Iroh. Moreover, he had an old friend who was married to another man.
It was kind of a toss up on how Ba Sing Ce took it. Everything was pretty progressive here with laws, but people still had some opinions that Zuko wished they’d rather keep to themselves. It wasn’t as common as that was in the rural outskirts of the Earth Kingdom, though. That was unruly.
Jet might have been a little overbearing and cocky sometimes, but he was cute. He’d also given Zuko so much attention. At least, more than anyone else -aside from his uncle- had given him in the past handful of years.
He’d usually assume guys his age were straight, but a few things happened today that made Zuko think otherwise. For one, Zuko swore he saw a small woven rainbow bracelet under his hoodie’s sleeve. One of his older friends made the comment “quit flirting over there!” In history class, which Jet had only laughed and flipped him the bird, but he didn’t seem offended.
He’d also said the sentence ”My dads used to take me camping all the time.” Zuko was absolutely certain he wasn’t making a grammar mistake, and though having two fathers didn’t make someone gay, Zuko thought it probably made him much less likely to be against that sort of thing.
“Try not to fall asleep before dinner!” Iroh sang as he brought some tea over to the living room’s table. “It’ll be ready in just ten minutes.”
“Mmm.” Zuko groaned, then set the controller down to have some tea. Ashwaganda. His uncle must have thought he was anxious.
Which was true, he was. But he constantly was, so it got harder for Zuko to recognize it.
The tea was good- His uncle’s tea was always good. He’d actually started his own tea shop in the capital of the city, which was really just down the street from them. The business was extremely popular from the get go, and this was undoubtably going to make his uncle a millionaire soon enough. It was strange, though, because though they were the wealthiest family back in the Fire Nation, this felt different somehow. It felt like something to be proud of.
Iroh talked about moving to a more spacious, nature-centric part of Ba Sing Ce, but something close enough to where Zuko could still go to the same school if he ended up liking it enough. Until then, the penthouse was their safe space.
…
After Zuko ate as much as he could take, which was, of course, never enough, he’d showered and gotten dressed for bed.
“Wake me if you need me, this time!” Iroh reminded Zuko before closing his door and wishing him a good night. It was embarrassing for Zuko, but sometimes he’d have nightmares and that would lead to… less than ideal things. Which was typical for people in Zuko’s shoes, but he still felt humiliated for still having this issue at 16. Last night, Iroh was woken up by the sound of the washing machine and familiar sniffles. Usually, Zuko would just hop in Iroh’s bed when he’d have a nightmare (which was also supposed to be a sworn secret), but this time there was a mess, and all the messes beforehand were outdoors when they were without a home, or when their were house keepers in the palace. This was a recipe for disaster, because Zuko hadn’t tried to do laundry before in his entire life.
Zuko sighed, getting frustrated at how he could go an entire afternoon feeling exhausted, but then as soon as he tries to sleep he’s buzzing with energy. He used to have a TV in his room with games to play, but Iroh decided that it was messing with his sleep too much and he’d moved it all to the living room. Zuko would have protested, but this was all given to them because of Iroh’s work, and he started feeling less and less in charge of how things went around the place.
Suddenly, Zuko’s phone vibrated and lit-up. He picked it up, seeing Jet’s name on the notification.
Jet: hey! I got a game after school if u wanna go. bee can show u how to get there from east door B)
Zuko stared at the screen, blushing. He didn’t know a thing about baseball, and sitting with people he barely knew sounded like a nightmare… but he also didn’t want to tell Jet no.
He waited for ten minutes before hitting ‘send’ so he wouldn’t look desperate for responding too soon.
Zuko: Hey. Sounds cool. You’ll prob have to tell me how baseball works tho bc I literally have no idea lol
It took only two minutes for his phone to ding again.
Jet: hahaha ur good. ill tell u tomo. lemme kno if u needa ride home after
Zuko squirmed around anxiously in his new bed, which was harder to do since Iroh put yet another weighted blanket on him before leaving. He was sure his uncle would bring him home if he needed him to, but going in Jet’s car sounded both exciting and terrifying.
This time, he waited only six minutes!
Zuko: K I’ll let you know tomo
Jet liked the message, then that was the end of it. Zuko was way too anxious to go to sleep now, so he got up to check if he had any of his medicine in the bathroom. Iroh kept most of it locked away because of some instances with Zuko in the past, but he’d left Zuko at least two or three in the cabinet just in case.
“Doing okay?” He heard his uncle call out from his room, probably from the sound of the cabinet and a cup.
“I’m okay, Uncle. Just can’t sleep.” Zuko called back out.
Zuko left the bathroom to peer into his uncle’s room, which always had its door halfway open for him.
“That guy wants me to see his game tomorrow. I think he’s gonna drive me home after.” Zuko said as a statement, but he was technically asking for any objections.
“That’s wonderful- you’ll have fun.” Iroh smiled. “When do you think you’ll get back?”
“I actually don’t know. I can text you tomorrow when I find out.” Zuko came in to pet Mochi, who had been sleeping on Iroh’s bed since dinner time.
“Alright. And take her with you- I kick.” Iroh smiled, shooing away the big cat.
“I know you do. Surprised she hasn’t scratched you yet.” Zuko smiled, picking up the hefty cat.
“Goodnight, see you tomorrow.” Zuko added before he left.
“Goodnight, I love you, Nephew.”
“Love you, too, Uncle.”